ALP for I11

A Wicked Woman

by Jack London



It was because she had broken with Billy that Loretta had come visiting to Santa Clara. Billy could not understand. His sister had reported that he had walked the floor and cried all night. Loretta had not slept all night either, while she had wept most of the night. Daisy knew this, because it was in her arms that the weeping had been done. And Daisy's husband, Captain Kitt, knew, too. The tears of Loretta, and the comforting by Daisy, had lost him some sleep.

Now Captain Kitt did not like to lose sleep. Neither did he want Loretta to marry Billy--nor anybody else. It was Captain Kitt's belief that Daisy needed the help of her younger sister in the household. But he did not say this aloud. Instead, he always insisted that Loretta was too young to think of marriage. So it was Captain Kitt's idea that Loretta should be packed off on a visit to Mrs. Hemingway. There wouldn't be any Billy there.

Before Loretta had been at Santa Clara a week, she was convinced that Captain Kitt's idea was a good one. In the first place, though Billy wouldn't believe it, she did not want to marry Billy. And in the second place, though Captain Kitt wouldn't believe it, she did not want to leave Daisy. By the time Loretta had been at Santa Clara two weeks, she was absolutely certain that she did not want to marry Billy. But she was not so sure about not wanting to leave Daisy. Not that she loved Daisy less, but that she--had doubts.

The day of Loretta's arrival, a nebulous plan began shaping itself in Mrs. Hemingway's brain. The second day she remarked to Jack Hemingway, her husband, that Loretta was so innocent a young thing that were it not for her sweet guilelessness she would be positively stupid. In proof of which, Mrs. Hemingway told her husband several things that made him chuckle. By the third day Mrs. Hemingway's plan had taken recognizable form. Then it was that she composed a letter. On the envelope she wrote: "Mr. Edward Bashford, Athenian Club, San Francisco."

"Dear Ned," the letter began. She had once been violently loved by him for three weeks in her pre-marital days. But she had covenanted herself to Jack Hemingway, who had prior claims, and her heart as well; and Ned Bashford had philosophically not broken his heart over it. He merely added the experience to a large fund of similarly collected data out of which he manufactured philosophy. Artistically and temperamentally he was a Greek-- a tired Greek. He was fond of quoting from Nietzsche, in token that he, too, had passed through the long sickness that follows upon the ardent search for truth; that he too had emerged, too experienced, too shrewd, too profound, ever again to be afflicted by the madness of youths in their love of truth. "'To worship appearance,'" he often quoted; "'to believe in forms, in tones, in words, in the whole Olympus of appearance!'" This particular excerpt he always concluded with, "'Those Greeks were superficial--OUT OF PROFUNDITY!'"

He was a fairly young Greek, jaded and worn. Women were faithless and unveracious, he held--at such times that he had relapses and descended to pessimism from his wonted high philosophical calm. He did not believe in the truth of women; but, faithful to his German master, he did not strip from them the airy gauzes that veiled their untruth. He was content to accept them as appearances and to make the best of it. He was superficial- -OUT OF PROFUNDITY.

"Jack says to be sure to say to you, 'good swimming,'" Mrs. Hemingway wrote in her letter; "and also 'to bring your fishing duds along.'" Mrs. Hemingway wrote other things in the letter. She told him that at last she was prepared to exhibit to him an absolutely true, unsullied, and innocent woman. "A more guileless, immaculate bud of womanhood never blushed on the planet," was one of the several ways in which she phrased the inducement. And to her husband she said triumphantly, "If I don't marry Ned off this time--" leaving unstated the terrible alternative that she lacked either vocabulary to express or imagination to conceive.

Contrary to all her forebodings, Loretta found that she was not unhappy at Santa Clara. Truly, Billy wrote to her every day, but his letters were less distressing than his presence. Also, the ordeal of being away from Daisy was not so severe as she had expected. For the first time in her life she was not lost in eclipse in the blaze of Daisy's brilliant and mature personality. Under such favourable circumstances Loretta came rapidly to the front, while Mrs. Hemingway modestly and shamelessly retreated into the background.

Loretta began to discover that she was not a pale orb shining by reflection. Quite unconsciously she became a small centre of things. When she was at the piano, there was some one to turn the pages for her and to express preferences for certain songs. When she dropped her handkerchief, there was some one to pick it up. And there was some one to accompany her in ramblings and flower gatherings. Also, she learned to cast flies in still pools and below savage riffles, and how not to entangle silk lines and gut-leaders with the shrubbery.

Jack Hemingway did not care to teach beginners, and fished much by himself, or not at all, thus giving Ned Bashford ample time in which to consider Loretta as an appearance. As such, she was all that his philosophy demanded. Her blue eyes had the direct gaze of a boy, and out of his profundity he delighted in them and forbore to shudder at the duplicity his philosophy bade him to believe lurked in their depths. She had the grace of a slender flower, the fragility of colour and line of fine china, in all of which he pleasured greatly, without thought of the Life Force palpitating beneath and in spite of Bernard Shaw--in whom he believed.

Loretta burgeoned. She swiftly developed personality. She discovered a will of her own and wishes of her own that were not everlastingly entwined with the will and the wishes of Daisy. She was petted by Jack Hemingway, spoiled by Alice Hemingway, and devotedly attended by Ned Bashford. They encouraged her whims and laughed at her follies, while she developed the pretty little tyrannies that are latent in all pretty and delicate women. Her environment acted as a soporific upon her ancient desire always to live with Daisy. This desire no longer prodded her as in the days of her companionship with Billy. The more she saw of Billy, the more certain she had been that she could not live away from Daisy. The more she saw of Ned Bashford, the more she forgot her pressing need of Daisy.

Ned Bashford likewise did some forgetting. He confused superficiality with profundity, and entangled appearance with reality until he accounted them one. Loretta was different from other women. There was no masquerade about her. She was real. He said as much to Mrs. Hemingway, and more, who agreed with him and at the same time caught her husband's eyelid drooping down for the moment in an unmistakable wink.

It was at this time that Loretta received a letter from Billy that was somewhat different from his others. In the main, like all his letters, it was pathological. It was a long recital of symptoms and sufferings, his nervousness, his sleeplessness, and the state of his heart. Then followed reproaches, such as he had never made before. They were sharp enough to make her weep, and true enough to put tragedy into her face. This tragedy she carried down to the breakfast table. It made Jack and Mrs. Hemingway speculative, and it worried Ned. They glanced to him for explanation, but he shook his head.

"I'll find out to-night," Mrs. Hemingway said to her husband.

But Ned caught Loretta in the afternoon in the big living-room. She tried to turn away. He caught her hands, and she faced him with wet lashes and trembling lips. He looked at her, silently and kindly. The lashes grew wetter.

"There, there, don't cry, little one," he said soothingly.

He put his arm protectingly around her shoulder. And to his shoulder, like a tired child, she turned her face. He thrilled in ways unusual for a Greek who has recovered from the long sickness.

"Oh, Ned," she sobbed on his shoulder, "if you only knew how wicked I am!"

He smiled indulgently, and breathed in a great breath freighted with the fragrance of her hair. He thought of his world-experience of women, and drew another long breath. There seemed to emanate from her the perfect sweetness of a child--"the aura of a white soul," was the way he phrased it to himself.

Then he noticed that her sobs were increasing.

"What's the matter, little one?" he asked pettingly and almost paternally. "Has Jack been bullying you? Or has your dearly beloved sister failed to write?"

She did not answer, and he felt that he really must kiss her hair, that he could not be responsible if the situation continued much longer.

"Tell me," he said gently, "and we'll see what I can do."

"I can't. You will despise me.--Oh, Ned, I am so ashamed!"

He laughed incredulously, and lightly touched her hair with his lips--so lightly that she did not know.

"Dear little one, let us forget all about it, whatever it is. I want to tell you how I love--"

She uttered a sharp cry that was all delight, and then moaned--

"Too late!"

"Too late?" he echoed in surprise.

"Oh, why did I? Why did I?" she was moaning.

He was aware of a swift chill at his heart.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, I . . . he . . . Billy.

"I am such a wicked woman, Ned. I know you will never speak to me again."

"This--er--this Billy," he began haltingly. "He is your brother?"

"No . . . he . . . I didn't know. I was so young. I could not help it. Oh, I shall go mad! I shall go mad!"

It was then that Loretta felt his shoulder and the encircling arm become limp. He drew away from her gently, and gently he deposited her in a big chair, where she buried her face and sobbed afresh. He twisted his moustache fiercely, then drew up another chair and sat down.

"I--I do not understand," he said.

"I am so unhappy," she wailed.

"Why unhappy?"

"Because . . . he . . . he wants me to marry him."

His face cleared on the instant, and he placed a hand soothingly on hers.

"That should not make any girl unhappy," he remarked sagely. "Because you don't love him is no reason--of course, you don't love him?"

Loretta shook her head and shoulders in a vigorous negative.

"What?"

Bashford wanted to make sure.

"No," she asserted explosively. "I don't love Billy! I don't want to love Billy!"

"Because you don't love him," Bashford resumed with confidence, "is no reason that you should be unhappy just because he has proposed to you."

She sobbed again, and from the midst of her sobs she cried--

"That's the trouble. I wish I did love him. Oh, I wish I were dead!"

"Now, my dear child, you are worrying yourself over trifles." His other hand crossed over after its mate and rested on hers. "Women do it every day. Because you have changed your mind or did not know your mind, because you have--to use an unnecessarily harsh word--jilted a man--"

"Jilted!" She had raised her head and was looking at him with tear-dimmed eyes. "Oh, Ned, if that were all!"

"All?" he asked in a hollow voice, while his hands slowly retreated from hers. He was about to speak further, then remained silent.

"But I don't want to marry him," Loretta broke forth protestingly.

"Then I shouldn't," he counselled.

"But I ought to marry him."

"OUGHT to marry him?"

She nodded.

"That is a strong word."

"I know it is," she acquiesced, while she strove to control her trembling lips. Then she spoke more calmly. "I am a wicked woman, a terribly wicked woman. No one knows how wicked I am--except Billy."

There was a pause. Ned Bashford's face was grave, and he looked queerly at Loretta.

"He--Billy knows?" he asked finally.

A reluctant nod and flaming cheeks was the reply.

He debated with himself for a while, seeming, like a diver, to be preparing himself for the plunge.

"Tell me about it." He spoke very firmly. "You must tell me all of it."

"And will you--ever--forgive me?" she asked in a faint, small voice.

He hesitated, drew a long breath, and made the plunge.

"Yes," he said desperately. "I'll forgive you. Go ahead."

"There was no one to tell me," she began. "We were with each other so much. I did not know anything of the world--then."

She paused to meditate. Bashford was biting his lip impatiently.

"If I had only known--"

She paused again.

"Yes, go on," he urged.

"We were together almost every evening."

"Billy?" he demanded, with a savageness that startled her.

"Yes, of course, Billy. We were with each other so much . . . If I had only known . . . There was no one to tell me . . . I was so young--"

Her lips parted as though to speak further, and she regarded him anxiously.

"The scoundrel!"

With the explosion Ned Bashford was on his feet, no longer a tired Greek, but a violently angry young man.

"Billy is not a scoundrel; he is a good man," Loretta defended, with a firmness that surprised Bashford.

"I suppose you'll be telling me next that it was all your fault," he said sarcastically.

She nodded.

"What?" he shouted.

"It was all my fault," she said steadily. "I should never have let him. I was to blame."

Bashford ceased from his pacing up and down, and when he spoke, his voice was resigned.

"All right," he said. "I don't blame you in the least, Loretta. And you have been very honest. But Billy is right, and you are wrong. You must get married."

"To Billy?" she asked, in a dim, far-away voice.

"Yes, to Billy. I'll see to it. Where does he live? I'll make him."

"But I don't want to marry Billy!" she cried out in alarm. "Oh, Ned, you won't do that?"

"I shall," he answered sternly. "You must. And Billy must. Do you understand?"

Loretta buried her face in the cushioned chair back, and broke into a passionate storm of sobs.

All that Bashford could make out at first, as he listened, was: "But I don't want to leave Daisy! I don't want to leave Daisy!"

He paced grimly back and forth, then stopped curiously to listen.

"How was I to know?--Boo--hoo," Loretta was crying. "He didn't tell me. Nobody else ever kissed me. I never dreamed a kiss could be so terrible . . . until, boo-hoo . . . until he wrote to me. I only got the letter this morning."

His face brightened. It seemed as though light was dawning on him.

"Is that what you're crying about?"

"N--no."

His heart sank.

"Then what are you crying about?" he asked in a hopeless voice.

"Because you said I had to marry Billy. And I don't want to marry Billy. I don't want to leave Daisy. I don't know what I want. I wish I were dead."

He nerved himself for another effort.

"Now look here, Loretta, be sensible. What is this about kisses. You haven't told me everything?"

"I--I don't want to tell you everything."

She looked at him beseechingly in the silence that fell.

"Must I?" she quavered finally.

"You must," he said imperatively. "You must tell me everything."

"Well, then . . . must I?"

"You must."

"He . . . I . . . we . . ." she began flounderingly. Then blurted out, "I let him, and he kissed me."

"Go on," Bashford commanded desperately.

"That's all," she answered.

"All?" There was a vast incredulity in his voice.

"All?" In her voice was an interrogation no less vast.

"I mean--er--nothing worse?" He was overwhelmingly aware of his own awkwardness.

"Worse?" She was frankly puzzled. "As though there could be! Billy said- -"

"When did he say it?" Bashford demanded abruptly.

"In his letter I got this morning. Billy said that my . . . our . . . our kisses were terrible if we didn't get married."

Bashford's head was swimming.

"What else did Billy say?" he asked.

"He said that when a woman allowed a man to kiss her, she always married him--that it was terrible if she didn't. It was the custom, he said; and I say it is a bad, wicked custom, and I don't like it. I know I'm terrible," she added defiantly, "but I can't help it."

Bashford absent-mindedly brought out a cigarette.

"Do you mind if I smoke?" he asked, as he struck a match.

Then he came to himself.

"I beg your pardon," he cried, flinging away match and cigarette. "I don't want to smoke. I didn't mean that at all. What I mean is--"

He bent over Loretta, caught her hands in his, then sat on the arm of the chair and softly put one arm around her.

"Loretta, I am a fool. I mean it. And I mean something more. I want you to be my wife."

He waited anxiously in the pause that followed.

"You might answer me," he urged.

"I will . . . if--"

"Yes, go on. If what?"

"If I don't have to marry Billy."

"You can't marry both of us," he almost shouted.

"And it isn't the custom . . . what. . . what Billy said?"

"No, it isn't the custom. Now, Loretta, will you marry me?"

"Don't be angry with me," she pouted demurely.

He gathered her into his arms and kissed her.

"I wish it were the custom," she said in a faint voice, from the midst of the embrace, "because then I'd have to marry you, Ned dear . . . wouldn't I?"

ALP for I01 - The gift of the Magi

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI
by O. Henry
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."

The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.

There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: "Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie."

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."

Down rippled the brown cascade.

"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

"Give it to me quick," said Della.

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty- seven cents?"

At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am still pretty."

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two--and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-- what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.

"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"

Jim looked about the room curiously.

"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"

Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year--what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."

White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.

For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

And them Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.

"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."

The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

Grammar - test gr III mtex

ADVANCED GRAMMAR III
Midterm exam


Look carefully, choose the correct alternative and mark it with an “X” on your answer sheet.

1.- My mother doesn’t like to be disturbed _____________________ she is sewing.
a.- as son as
b.- wherever
c.- whenever
d.- until

2.- Scarleth speaks ________________ for everybody to understand anything
a.- such fastly
b.- very fast
c.- so fast
d.- too fast

3.- ____________________ I’ve spent a lot of time in the States, Spanish is really my first
language.
a.- because
b.- despite
c.- however
d.- although

4.- Natalia: Did you start your diet?
Scarleth: Yes, I ___________________ for two weeks
a. - have dieted
b.- had dieted
c.- have been dieting
d.- am being dieting

5. - Look! _________________. He is driving a new car.
a. - here comes George
b. - George come here
c. - George comes here
d. - Come here George

6. - Enrique: “Astrid is dancing ____________________________”
a.- beautiful
b.- nice
c.- beautifully
d.- hardly

7. - ________________________ the top of the cliff when the rope we were using tore.
a.- hardly we have reached
b.- hardly we were reaching
c.- hardly we reached
d.- had we reached

8. - Brianda: “Carlos Alberto, Rodolfo and Marco like volleyball.”
Miriam: “I know, but ________________ of them like soccer”
a. - neither
b. - none
c. - no one
d. - either

9. - Camucha: “Does the lesson start at 5:30?”
Astrid : “Yes, and you should be on time or ___________ the teacher will be angry.”
a. - other
b. - however
c. - else
d. - moreover

10. - Mr. Highland: “What a foolish thing to do Grecia”
Carlos Alberto: “Not ______________ foolish, but dangerous.”
a. - was it only
b. - it only was
c. - only was it
d. - it was only

11. - Natalia : “Is Marc Anthony studying for the final exam?”
Helen : “Yes. Never _______________ so hard before.
a. - he studied
b. - he has studied
c. - has he studied
d. - does he study

12. - Elita : “That’s a big project”
Marco Antonio : “Yes, but __________ long it takes I’ll get it done.”
a. - no matter
b. - however
c. - whatever
d. - nevertheless

13. - Helen : “Are there any regular buses into town?”
Fiorella : “No. _____________their infrequency, most people take the train.”
a. - owing to
b. - according to
c. - because
d. - since

14. - Carolina : “Are you coming to the concert?”
Marlene : “Only if ____________ me a lift.”
a. - can you give
b. - will you give
c. - you can give
d. - you would give


15. - A. - “Why do the students like him so much?”
B. - “He’s _____________ interesting teacher that everyone enjoys his lessons”
a. - so
b. - such
c. - a such
d. - such an

16. - A. - “Did they steal the jewels?”
B. - “Well, they denied ________________ them
a. - to steal
b. - to have stolen
c. - stealing
d. - to stealing

17. - Ivan : “Did you like the movies?”
Natalia : “_____________ such a boring film in my life.”
a. - Never I see
b. - Have I never seen
c. - Have I ever seen
d. - Never have I seen

18. - Miriam. - “Is Carlos Rodolfo coming to the meeting?”
Richard. - “Yes. __________________ he is the chairperson, he will have to come.”
a. - However
b. - That
c. - Since
d. - Even

19.- Feli.- “Scarleth failed all her exams.”
Natalia. - “She´s _______________ lazy student that it´s not surprising.”
a. - such
b. - such a
c. - a so
d. - so

20. - Carlos Rodolfo. - “Have you finished my book yet?”
Marc Anthony. - “No, it’s ____________ me to read in one week.”
a.- so long for
b.- such a long for
c.- too long for
d.- too long to

21- Natalia. - “What’s the matter?”
Scarleth: - “I’m ________________ tired I can hardly move.”
a. - such
b.- very
c.- so
d.- too


22. - “______________ there is no doubt that Ricardo has let us down before, I still think we should give him a chance.”
a.- when
b.- while
c.- because
d.- despite

23. - “_______________ had Carlos Alberto arrived than he started to shout.”
a. - As soon
b. - No sooner
c. - Just as soon
d. - The sooner

24. - “It was _________________ good party that I stayed very late.”
a. - so
b. - such
c. - such a
d. - so a

25.- “I’m afraid there’s ______________news about the accident.”
a.- no
b.- none
c.- any
d.- many

26.- “The plane won’t depart until 10 pm, ______________ its departure was set for 8.00.”
a.- when
b.- though
c.- in spite of
d.- so

27.- Carmen Jenny.- “I hear Marc anthony didn’t get the job.”
Miriam.- “Yes, confident ________________ , he did very badly at the interview.”
a.- however he was
b.- as he was
c.- although he was
d.- but he was

28.- “Not one letter __________________ to his girlfriend in Japan yet.”
a.- has Renzo written
b.- Renzo writes
c.- hasn’t Renzo written
d.- Renzo wrote

29.- A.- “Who is going to Anne’s Party?”
B.- “ Well , I am going, and ________________________
a.- are Bob and Lucy also
b.- Bob and Lucy are
c.- Bob and Lucy are so
d.- So are Bob and Lucy

30.- “Actually, I can __________________ now.”
a.- speak Spanish fluently
b.- fluently speak Spanish
c.- speak fluently Spanish
d.- speak Spanish fluent

31.- “I eat only margarine because it ______________ butter is more fattening.”
a.- thought
b.- is thought
c.- thinks
d.- be thought

32.- A.- “Throw the milk away.”
B.- Why? It doesn´t ____________________
a.- smell so badly
b.- smell bad
c.- smell badly
d.- bad smell

33.- A.- Aren’t the Greens coming to the party?”
B.- “No. ___________________ J.C. nor Fiorella feel very well.”
a.- Neither
b.- Doesn´t
c.- Either
d.- Not

34.- A.- “Does Tom like his new job?”
B.- “Yes, _______________ the long hours, he loves it.”
a.- however
b.- in spite of
c.- although
d.- apart

35.- A.- “What’s your favorite sport, José?”
B. - “Oh, I like everything _____________ football.”
a. - since
b. - apart
c. - but
d. - apart for

36.- A.- “James doesn’t say very much , does he?”
B. - “He’s very shy, _____________he has a lot of friends.”
a. - yet
b. - except
c. - since
d. - despite

37.- Feli: “Why do you have a towel around your neck?”
Mr. Highland: “ ______________________ get my shirt wet.”
a.- Because as not
b.- So as not to
c.- So I haven´t
d.- As not to

38.- This soup tastes _______________________-.
a.- very nicely
b.- very nice
c.- much nice
d.- much nicely

39.- “Only for Astrid _______________________on that muddy floor.”
a.- Enrique will kneel
b.- will kneel Enrique
c.- will Enrique kneel
d.- Enrique kneel

40.- Carlos rodolfo: - Who is that man?
Feli: -He´s the man _________________ last night.
a. - whom I met
b.- what I met
c.- who met
d.- which I met

41.- Did they say ____________ of it was?
a. - what purpose
b. - for what purpose
c.- what the purpose
d.- purpose

42.- “This exercise is ___________ to do.”
a. - so difficult for him
b. - for his
c. - too difficult for him
d. - very difficult to him

43.- This problem is getting worse and worse. ___________________, we are going to solve it.
a. - moreover
b. - but
c. - however
d. - yet

44.- Help him. He’s asking for advice, ______________ you’re the one who’s always giving it.
a. - but
b. - yet
c. - and
d. - so

45. - Astrid hasn’t recovered of her break up, _________she’s still vulnerable to any mistreat.
a. - but
b. - so
c. - yet
d. - for

46.- It’s great to be here at school, ________________, there is something students are always afraid of: ”the exams “
a. - because
b.- since
c.- however
d.- yet

47. - _________________ feeling so bad, he kept on doing his chores.
a. - although
b. - even though
c. - though
d. - despite

48.- Wow Look! _____________________
a. - The President go there
b. - There the President goes .
c. - There goes the President
d. - The President there goes
49. - He said he wanted ______________ what was best for the state. He didn’t want to do anything else.
a.- only to do
b.- to do only
c.- only do
d.- only do to

50. - The mayor __________________ the people of this city. His actions were always very selfish.
a. - didn’t care just for
b. - just didn’t care for
c. - didn’t just care for
d. - didn’t care for just
MSR/mbs

ALP AO6

Dear students,
this month you are going to read two short stories. For the project you will have to write down the new words that may appear in these stories, find their meanings in the dictionary and put them close to the words they belong to.
After that, you are going to write a composition of between 120 and 180 words expressing your opinion of the stories and the website where the stories are posted . This composition will be presented in class the day of the project presentation.
To read the stories you will have to click on the following links:
http://www.newmysteryreader.com/april_short_story.htm

http://www.newmysteryreader.com/the_landlady.htm

Test grammar 2 final

G R A M M A R II

FINAL EXAM

I.- Read carefully, choose the correct alternative, and mark an "X" on your answer
sheet.

01.- I want you ______________ to class early
a.- getting
b.- to get
c.- get
d.- to getting

02.- The sergeant made the soldiers __________________________ 50 push-ups.
a.- to do
b.- do
c.- doing
d.- to doing

03.- I congratulated him on _______________________________ the game.
a.- win
b.- to win
c.- winning
d.- to winning

04.- Erika has advised Louis and Silvia _________________ so many courses. They
won’t have enough time for all of them.
a.- to take
b.- not to take
c.- to not take
d.- to don't take

05.- We had dinner before __________________________ our homework.
a.- doing
b.- to do
c.- we do
d.- do

06.- Valeria and Lucho used ________________________ TV every night.
a. - watch
b.- to watching
c.- to watch
d.- watching

07.- I helped.______________________ the problem
a.- him solve
b.- that he solve
c.- him solving
d.- he solves

08.- We are looking forward to ________________________ to the party
a.- go
b.- going
c.- to going
d.- will go

09.- Inés asked Carlos ________________________ carefully.
a.- to driven
b.- driving
c.- to drive
d.-driving

10.- I never let my cousin __________________________ my clothes.
a.- wearing
b.- to wear
c.- wear
d.- wearing

11.- Sebastian got used __________________________ to bed early
a.- go
b.- to go
c.- to going
d.- going

12.- Karina and Javier are good at ___________________________in the pool.
a.- to swim
b.- to swiming
c.- swimming
d.- swim

13.- Adolfo told Diego___________ to the bank and get some money for Noelia’s present.
a.- that I go
b.- to go
c.- to going
d.- going

14.- We avoided _______________________________ them.
a.- meeting
b.- meet
c.- to meet
d.- to met

15.- I'm taking a Linguistics course at the university, but I'm not ______________ very well.
a.- finding out
b.- keeping on
c.- making out
d.- getting over

16.- Rodolfo ______________ the Bianchis last week. He says their house is nice and cozy.
a.- call up
b.- called on
c.- make out
d.- got along

17.- This assignment is due tomorrow. You can’t ______________ any longer.
a.- put it on
b.- put it off
c.- put it away
d.- put it back

18.- Triana _____________________ that Eduardo is not married, and she is happy.
a.- had find out
b.- has found out
c.- have discovered
d.- has discover

19.- Rose didn't _________________________ at the party on Saturday.
a.- appeared
b.- take off
c.- show up
d.- look up

20.- Maribel _________________________ for the U.S.A. yesterday.
a.- made out
b.- gave up
c.- took off
d.- showed up

21.- Dania was so weak that she ______________________ and fell onto the floor.
a.- passed out
b.- took off
c.- put away
d.- came to

22.- Sheila and Carlos have never been to Venice, ________________________?
a.- haven't they
b.- don't they
c.- hadn't they
d.- have they

23.- Daniela has a lot of friends, _____________?
a.- hasn't she
b.- doesn't she
c.- isn't she
d.- don't she

24.- David used to go to school on foot, _________________?
a.- hasn't he
b.- doesn't he
c.- haven't he
d.- didn't he

25.- Smoking has deadly effects, ______________________ ?
a.- isn't he
b.- hasn't he
c.- doesn't it
d.- haven't it

26.- Karina lent her car to Germán, ___________________ ?
a.- Had she
b.- Did she
c.- didn't she
d.- does she

27.- By next June, Paola will have returned from her 12th trip to Cancun, __________ ?
a.- Has she
b.- Hasn't she
c.- will she
d.- won't she

28.- Eduardo ______________________ to Triana when they were alone.
a.- should talk
b.- may talk
c.- should've talked
d.- should has talked

29.- We appreciate ________________ in our time of need. We couldn’t have made it
without you.
a.- you help us
b.- you helping us
c.- your helping us
d.- your help us

30.- Do you remember our old high school teacher, Mr. Highlands? Well, guess what?
Yesterday, I _______________________at Larcomar.
a.- ran him down
b.- ran over him
c.- ran into him
d.- ran away him


31.- Erika has forgotten __________________________ her to that fancy restaurant.
a. - my taking
b. - I taking
c. - I take
d. - I to take her

32.- Flor ___________________________ by the manager of the company
a.- is being interviewed
b.- is been interviewing
c.- is been interviewed
d.- is being interviewing

33.- Maribel's book _____________________ by Karina
a.- is hid
b.- is hiden
c.- is been hid
d.- was hidden

34.- Don't hesitate _________________ your dad about it.
a.- to tell
b.- telling
c.- to say
d.- saying

35.- Do you recall ____________________ to that party?
a.- going
b.- to go
c.- to going
d.- go

36.- Rose suggested Sebastian ________________________ to a better place.
a.- to going
b.- going
c.- go
d.- to go

37.- Elizabeth always consents _________________________ to parties with Freddy
a.- to go
b.- going
c.- go
d.- goes

38.- Alejandra allowed __________________________ her on the cheek.
a.- kissing Javier
b.- Javier to kiss
c.- Javier kissing
d.- To kiss Javier

39.- Children ___________________________ to go in there.
a.- are allow
b.- are forbid
c.- are forbidden
d.- are forbiden

40.- There’s a lot that can be accomplished by __________________ the problem.
a.- us sitting down and discussing
b.- our sitting down and discussing
c.- we sitting down and discuss
d.- our sit down and discuss


II.- IDENTIFY THE ONE UNDERLINED WORD OR PHRASE THAT MUST BE CHANGED IN ORDER FOR THE SENTENCE TO BE CORRECT.

41.- How many pairs of shoes are you planning to (a) try on?
I’m (b) getting tired of (c) waiting you for, and (d) so is Erika.


42.- Diego(a) thought his parents (b) had (c) forgotten about his birthday, but actually they (d) didn’t.

43.- David knows he should (a) get rid the junk he’s(b) put away in the attic, but he
(c) doesn’t want to (d) part with it.

44.- Germán found it easy to (a) cut down (b) on coffee and (c) give up smoking, but Carlos (d) hadn’t

45.- Educators have (a) found out that many children (b) aren’t familiar with their country’s history, and (c) neither (d) do their parents.

46.- Matías warned Romina (a) not lending Diego any money (b) for gambling, but she (c) refused d) to listen.

47.- You (a) were told (b) not touch the experiment, but you (c) tampered with it and now
(d) it’s ruined.

48.- The Greenes (a) were astonished at (b) Maribel (c) getting a scholarship
(d) to the university .

49.- (a) My (b) get nominated for the office is enough; I (c) don’t care if I (d) win or not.

50.- Paola (a) regrets not (b) to learn how (c) to drive since she enjoys (d) traveling.
MSR/mbs

Grammar: advanced grammar II - mid term exam

Read the sentences carefully, choose one correct answer and mark it with an “x” on your answer sheet.

01. - The man __________________ is buying our car is originally from Canada
a. - whom
b. - whose
c. - who
d. - which

02. - Peru, ____________ became independent in 1821, is located in South America.
a. - that
b. - which
c. - who
d. - where

03. - The person _______ you seem to be referring is not being considered for the job.
a. - to which
b. - to who
c. - to that
d. - to whom

04. - The woman __________ son mowed our lawn last week is a local leader.
a. - whom
b. - who
c. - whose
d. - which

05. - The student _________ has earned the best grade-point average after three years will
be named valedictorian.
a. - who
b. - which
c. - whom
d. - whose

06. - It may rain this afternoon, ____________ you had better take your umbrella.
a.- in that case
b.- in which case
c.- in whose case
d.- in whom case

07. - Please give this book to the boy ___________ is wearing a blue t-shirt.
a. - of whom
b. - whom
c. - who
d. - whose

08. - Whom is a word ______________ people use mainly in formal English.
a. - which
b. - in which
c. - for which
d. - of which

09. - Perfectionists are people ___________ can not accept less than the best.
a. - who they
b. - whose
c. - who
d. - they

10. - Carlos Alberto, _____________ parents live in San Isidro, now lives in La Molina.
a. - which
b. - whose
c. - whom
d. - who

11. - The elevators may not be working, ______________ you must use the stairs.
a. - in which
b. - that
c. - in which case
d. - in that case

12. - Marlene, _____________ was born _________ Sunday _______ May 1st, likes her
birthday very much.
a. - which/in / in
b. - who/on / --
c. - who/on / in
d. - who/on / on

13. - It's impossible to lie on the beach _________ .we spent our vacation last summer.
a. - when
b. - that
c. - where
d. - who


14. - There _________not ___________ privacy at the beach
a. - are/some
b. - are /any
c. - is /some
d. - is /any

15.- We can't make an omelette. There are _____________ eggs.
a. - some
b. - -----
c. - no
d. - any

16. - Cinthia is the woman _________ lives ___________ 956 Bolivar Ave.
a. - who/in
b. - who/
c. - that/at
d. - that/on

17. - The interview ____ will take place on Monday morning is going to decide your future.
a. - when
b. - which
c. - where
d. - at which

18. - Miriam _________ I met last year ______________a pottery course this month
a. - who/take
b. - whom/takes
c. - whom/is taking
d. - who/are taking

19. - Enrique, ___ Claudia talked to last night, ___ a new fashion collection every winter.
a. - whom/is designing
b. - who/is design
c. - whom/designs
d. - who/designing

20. - The girl _____________ is ringing the bell.
a. - which found a watch yesterday.
b. - whom found a watch yesterday
c. - who found a watch yesterday
d. - found a watch yesterday

21. - Brianda´s discotheque, _____________, caught fire yesterday.
a. - that was well decorated
b. - which was well decorated
c. - who was well decorated
d. - was well decorated

22. - Three youngsters ___________________ were sent to prison last month.
a. - whom killed a politician
b. - that killed a politician
c. - which killed a politician
d. - killed a politician

23. - Lady Diana, _____________Prince Charles was married to, was a very fine lady
a. - which
b. - whose
c. - whom
d. - what

24. - Marco Antonio, ______________ car is parked over there, is a doctor.
a. - Who's
b. - which
c. - whose
d. - that

25. - Guppies, _______ are sometimes called rainbow fish, have bright colors.
a. - whose
b. - which
c. - who's
d. - who

26. - Bacteria, _____________ are neither pants nor animals, are single celled organisms.
a. - whose
b. - who's
c. - who
d. - that

27. - Victor Delfín ___________I met last year is a noted sculptor.
a. - which
b. - who's
c. - that
d. - whom

28. - The girl ___________ the car hit is now in the hospital.
a. - which
b. - who's
c. - whom
d. - whose

29. - The man ___________ I wanted to see was away on vacation.
a. - which
b. - whom
c. - who's
d. - whose

30. - None of the people ____________ were invited to the party can come.
a. - who
b. - which
c. - whom
d. - who's

31. - Kamsky was _________________ by Anand in the final Chess game.
a. - bite
b- beat
c. - beaten
d. - bitten

32. - Marc Anthony was _____by a dog when he was coming to school and now his leg is
hurting.
a. - beat
b. - bite
c. - bitten
d. - beaten

33. - The grave had been ______________ early that morning.
a. - dig
b. - dug
c. - digged
d. - dugged

34. - The expense of his trip to America was ______________ by his uncle.
a. - bear
b. - born
c. - borne
d. - beared

35. - Scarleth said she had made ______________ in the U.S.A.
a. - too many good friends
b. - very many good friends
c. - too much good friends
d. - very much good friends

36. - Fifth grade students _______________ an oral examination at the end of this bimester.
a. - are taken
b. - will be taken
c. - will be given
d. - will given

37. - A new apartment house _______________ on my street now.
a.- is being built
b.- is building
c.- will built
d.- will being built

38. - That clothing store ____________________ by the same man since 1960.
a. - has owned
b. - has been owned
c. - has being own
d. - has being owned

II.-Identify the one underlined part that must be changed in order for the sentence to be
correct. (find the mistake)

41. - The doctors (a) are examining the dog (b) bit the child for rabies, (c) which is a
dangerous disease (d) requiring immediate treatment.

42. - Alice Beardsley, (a)which is the class valedictorian, (b) will attend the Sorbonne,
(c) a famous university (d) located in Paris.
43. - The (a) lady wearing the red dress (b) whom you met (c) her at the party (d) last weekend is Maria’s aunt.

44. - Bluegrass music is a (a) type of country music (b) who was (c) pioneered by Bill Monroe
(d) of Rosine, Kentucky.

45. - An etching is a print (a) made from a plate (b) which on the artist has (c) etched a design
(d) with acid.

46. - Boolean algebra, (a) that is a (b) mathematical system, is used (c) to solve problems in
(d) logic, probability, and engineering.

47. - (a) An opera singer (b) is require (c) to have a (d) powerful and beautiful voice.


48. - Water polo is a game (a) in which (b) is played in the water (c) by two teams, each (d) with
seven players.

49. - (a) Baseball games (b) broadcasts (c) were began by many radio stations (d) during the
1920s.

50. - It (a) used to think that people (b) caught colds (c) by sitting in drafts, going out in cold
weather, or (d) going from hot to cold temperature

MSR/mbs






.........A....... B..... C.... D ................A .........B........ C........ D
01. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......26. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
02. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......27. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
03. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......28. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
04. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......29. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
05. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......30. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
06. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......31. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
07. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......32. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
08. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......33. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
09. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......34. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
10. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......35. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
11. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......36. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
12. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......37. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
13. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......38. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
14. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......39. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
15. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......40. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
16. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......41. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
17. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......42. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
18. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......43. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
19. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......44. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
20. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......45. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
21. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......46. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
22. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......47. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
23. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......48. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
24. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......49. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)
25. - (...).... (...) ( ...) (...) ......50. - (...)..... (...).... (...).... (...)

MSR/mbs

ALP B12

Dear Students,
For your Autonomous Learning Project this month, you will have to read a short story. Please, read the story all the way through once without using a dictionary. You will notice that there are some passages that are not clear. Then, read it a second time also without using a dictionary. This time, you will notice that some of the things that were not clear the first time are clear now. At this moment you will have an idea of what the story is about. Read the story a third time. While you are reading the story this time, you may encounter some new words. Write down these new words on a piece of paper, look up their meanings in a dictionary and write their definitions next to the new words. After you finish reading and writing the new words, you will have to write a 100-120-word composition expressing your opinion about the story using some of the grammar and structures that we have studied this month. You will have to present this paper (with the words, definitions and the composition) the day of the project presentation.


To read the story you will have to enter the following link. After you read the story you'll have to do the activities on the left of the page to complete the activity.

http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/superfoods/home.html

grammar tests - gr 1 final ex

ADVANCED GRAMMAR I
Final Exam (practice)
Choose the correct answer and mark it with an “X” on your answer sheet
1. - John said he _________________________to the movies the day before.
a. - had gone b.- were going c.- had been going d.- has gone

2. - I’ve told him repeatedly that my parents _____________________ in Italy now.
a. - lived b. - live c. - are livin d.- lives

3. - Mr. Sierra’s students are supposed ________________ , but they aren’t.
a. - to have been studying c. - to have studied
b. - to be studying d. - to study

4. - They say their father ________________________ now
a. - was working b. - is working c. - would work d. - work

5. - Luis heard a deafening _____________ before the storm hit.
a.- bolt of lighning b.- speck of thunder c.- clap of thunder d.- drop of thunder

6.- Do you know where __________________________ now?
a.- is he living b.- he lives c.- does he live d.- he live

7.- I always have to ask her why _________________ her homework yet.
a.- hasn't she done b.- she hasn't done c.- she hadn't done d.- she didn´t do

8.- When Yolanda finishes cleaning, she doesn’t like to see ___________ anywhere in her room.
a.- a bolt of dust b.- a speck of dust c.- a clap of dust d.- piece of dust

09.- The robbers took everything; they didn’t leave a single ______________furniture.
a.- speck of b.- clap of c.- bolt of d.-piece of

10.- They ___________________________ to the theater last night.
a.- might go b.- may have gone c.- could be gone d.- must go

11.- Jimmy __________________________ at ten o'clock.
a.- may arrived b.- might arrive c.- would arrive d.- should´ve arrive

12.- He ___________________________________ to Europe last year.
a.- should be b.- might have been c.- must be d.- might be
13.- Angel ________________________________ sick. He didn't come to class.
a.- should have been b.- couldn't be c.- must have been d.- must been

14.- We _______________________________made a mistake on the exam yesterday.
a.- might be b.- must c.- must have d.-may

15.- What are you doing here at the party? You have an exam tomorrow. You.______________ ,
not having fun here at the party.
a. - should be studying c. - must have studied
b. - should have studied d. - must studied

16.- They are late. They ____________a taxi, but they never accept any advice.
a. - should have taken c. - would have taken
b. - must have taken d. - might took

17.- We _______________________________that house since the fifties.
a. - had have b. - had had c. - have had d. - had

18.- Now that the highway is built, there are ____________accidents than there used to be.
a.- much b.- lesser c.- less d.- fewer

19.- Unfortunately, we have made __________ progress in shrinking the budget deficit.
a.- a little b.- a few c.- little d.- few

20.- David made ____________ mistakes on the final exam, but he still did very well overall.
a.- few b.- a few c.- much d.-a little

21.- Daniel has been trying to invite Paola _____________________________ last June.
a.- for b.- since c.- from d.- through

22.- Do you. __________________________play chess with Henry every saturday?
a.- yet b.- already c.- still d.- will

23.- By the time Germán gets home, his girlfriend _____________________for the U.S.
a.- will leave b.- leaves c.- will have leave d.- will have left

24.- Manuel and María have two children, and they treat ____________ child the same way.
a.-either b.- both c.- every d.- each

25.- Rodolfo _______________________ to Giannina when they were alone.
a.- should talk b.- may talk c.- should've talked d.- should has talked

26.- Martin __________________________________German at New York University last year.
a.- had studied b.- have studied c.- studied d.- has studied

27.- Mr. and Mrs. Bianchi ________________________________ the Rome Colosseum in 1986.
a.- has seen b.- have seen c.- had seen d.- saw

28.- I _____________________________to that dance club many times.
a.- was b.- were c.- have been d.- be

29.- _____________ of the applications were considered carefully.
a.-Each b.- All c.-Much d.- Every

30.- My aunt lives in _____________house.
a.- a big old brown wood c.- an old brown big wood
b.- a big brown old wood d.- a big old wood brown

31.- Javier and Elizabeth ______________ .in Cuzco the week before last.
a.- had been b.- has been c.- were d.- will be

32.- I have to rewrite my essay because there were ______________ mistakes.
a.- a little b.- much c.- a few d.- few
33.- _________________ is my favorite sport.
a.- The river kayaking c.-River-kayaking
b.- A river kayaking d.- River kayaking

34.- Luís ___________________Silvia regularly for many years.
a.- had visit b.- have visited c.- has visit d.- has visited

35.- A decision ___________________________________until noon.
a.- will be take b.- won't be taken c.- will been take d.- will being taken

36.- Peter said, "My wife __________________ be here in a minute. Please wait to see her."
a.- would b.- may c.- will d.- come

37.- Noelia looks sad. She ______________________a problem with David earlier.
a.- must have b.- must had have c.- must had had d.- must have had

38.- In the past cattle _____________ rounded up and driven thousands of miles to slaughterhouses.
a.- were b.- is c.- was d.- did

39.- They didn't have _______________________ trouble with the vocabulary.
a.- any b.- no c.- some d.- many

40.- A lot of interesting atmospheric phenomena ______ observed when a comet collided with Jupiter.
a.- was b.- were c.- did d.- is

Each sentence has four words or phrases between parentheses. These four parts of the sentence are marked A, B, C, and D. Circle the letter of the ONE underlined part that is not correct.

41.- (a)(A computer) can be considered (b) (the most influential) invention of (c) (the last half) of (d) (the twentieth century)

42.- Those (a) (careless five mistakes) kept me from passing (b) (the) (c) (midterm exam) in (d) (Grammar I)

43- I am not (a) (in favor of) (b) (a genetic engineering) because (c) (scientists) may want to play (d) (God).

44.- (a) (The construction) of (b) (the Chelan River Dam) (c) (is a) (d) (five-years project).

45.- (a) (A growing number) (b) (of people) are opposed to (c) (the legalized gambling) (d) (in the suburbs).

46.- Let me give you (a) (an important advice): Don’t trust (b) (any) (c) (politicians) who have (d) (poor records).

47.- We’d like to order (a) (a soda), (b) (two coffees), and (c) (three pieces pie) with
(d) (ice cream).

48.- (a) (My family) thinks that the (b) (old little Volkswagen) has been (c) (a wonderful car) for (d) (road trips).

49.- (a) (Thousands) (b) (of people) in (c) (Florida) demonstrated to save (d) (an alligator).

50.- (a) (Neither of) (b) (my friends) (c) (in the college) (d) (had cars).

MSR/mbs

M O D A L V E R B S
Modal verbs are a very special kind of verbs. These verbs are very similar to auxiliaries in that they occupy the same position in the sentence and they help in the construction of interrogative and negative sentences, but they are different in that they have a meaning.
Example:
(Auxiliary)
Do you swim? In Spanish it would be: Nadas?

(Modals)
Can you swim? Puedes nadar?
Will you swim? Nadarás?
Should you swim? Deberías nadar?

They have only one form, although in some cases would is considered the past of will and should the past of shall, etc.
What makes modal verbs difficult is that they have a different meaning in different contexts.
Example:
I could swim when I was six. = I had the capacity or ability to swim at
the age of six. (Past ability or capacity)
Could you open the window? = A request in the present.
I’m not sure but he could come tomorrow. = probability in the future

The following is a list of modals and the ways they are used:

CAN
1. - Present ability = be able to

- I can swim well = I am able to swim well
- Joyce can speak several languages = Joyce is able to..

2. - Permission

- Can I use your phone?
- Can I leave early today?

3. - Request

- Can you help me?
- Can you do something for me?

4. - If Clauses (1st. Case)

- He can go if he wants
- I'll help you if I can

5. - Present and future probability.

- Don't plant this tree near your house because this species can reach a height of 100 feet
- She can call you tonight

COULD

1. - Past ability = be able to (podía)

- I could stand on my head when I was younger = I was able to stand on my head when I was younger.
- They could go to the beach when they lived there = they were able to go to the beach when they lived there.

2. - Permission (podría)

- Could I talk to you?
- Could I see you later?

3. - Request (podría)

- Could you give me a hand?
- Could you do me a favor?

4. - If Clauses (2nd Case)

- I could do it if I had time.
- He would go if he could.

5. - Past opportunity (could+have+past participle)

- She could have won the race, but she didn't want to take part.

6. - If Clauses (3Rd. Case)

- I could have bought it if I had gotten the money.
BE ABLE TO replaces CAN and COULD when these can't be used.

1. - After prepositions.

- I'll be glad to be able to help you (poder).

2. - Ability in the present perfect.

- He has been able to get a good job (ha podido).

3. - Future ability.

- We will be able to swim well soon (podremos).

4. - Past fulfillment.

- They were able to escape from prison (pudieron).


WILL

1. - Future promise

- I will help you. Don't worry.

- My son will pick you up

2. - Future determination

- I will pass this course

- We will get the scholarship

3. - If clauses (1st. case)

- She will go out if her father lends her his car.

4. - Request

- Will you lend me some money?

5. - Negative / refusal in the present.

-My car won't start.

-This key won't turn.
NOTE:
6. - Simple future (only with going to) (Certainty)

- We are going to have a test next week.

WOULD
1. - Future when said in the past. (Reported speech)
-"I will come next week"......He said he would come next week

2. - Request
- Would you close the door?
3. - If clauses (2nd. case)
- I would quit this job if I had enough money.

4. - If clauses (3rd. case)
-They would have done it if they had wanted to.

5. - Negative / refusal in the past.
- I asked my brother to lend me some money, but he wouldn't.
- They tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen.

MAY - MIGHT

1. - Present and future possibility
-He may (might) call you tonight

2. - Past possibility
- She may (might) have gone out last night.

3. - Permission
- May I go to the bathroom?
- May I ask you something?

SHALL
It is used for first person questions. It is not translated
1. - Offer.
- shall I help you? (Te ayudo?)
Yes, please (do). Or No, thank you.
- What time shall I call you?
Call me at two. (Wh-questions are answered with imperatives)

2. - Suggestions or invitations.
- Shall we go out tonight?
Yes, let's do / no, let's not.

- When shall we visit her?
Let’s visit her tomorrow.

SHOULD
1.-Unfulfilled obligation in the present or future = ought to
- I should do my homework tonight, but I'll go out instead.
- I ought to do my homework tonight, but I'll go out instead.

- You should be doing your homework.
- You ought to be doing your homework.

2. - Advisability = ought to.

- You look sick. You should see the doctor.
- You look sick. You ought to see the doctor

- Your grades aren't good. You should study more.
- Your grades aren't good. You ought to study more.

3. - Offer (same as shall) (It's not translated)

- Should I close the door? (Cierro la puerta?)
- Yes, please (do)/ No, thank you.

- Where should I put the boxes? (Donde pongo las cajas?)
- Put them on the floor.

4. - Suggestions or invitations (same as shall).

- Should we watch TV? (Vemos TV?)
- Yes, let's do/No, let's not.

5. - Unfulfilled obligation in the past (ought to+have+past participle).

- I should (ought to) have studied last night, but I went out instead.
- He should (ought to) have come earlier

MUST

1.-Obligation = have to (necessity)
- He must do his homework = He has to do his homework
- They must go home now = They have to go home now.

2. - Present deduction.
- She doesn't look so young. She must be around 60.
- He is wearing a white uniform. He must be a doctor.

3. - Past deduction. (Must+have+past participle)
- She arrived at the office late. She must have gotten up late.
- He looks happy. He must have won the game.

WOULD RATHER

1. - Preference
- I'd rather stay at home than go out.
- We'd rather not watch TV.

HAD BETTER

1. - Advisability.
- You'd better go to Hawaii on your next vacation.
- You'd better not make any more mistakes.

WOULD LIKE

1. - Desire (Can be followed by an infinitive or noun).
- I'd like to smoke
- We'd like some ice cream.

MSR/mbs

ALP FOR I10

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

THE COPPER BEECHES

"To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Telegraph, "It is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped this truth that in these little records of our cases which you have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much to the many causes celebres and sensational trials in which I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made my special province."

"And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my records."

"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood—"You have erred perhaps in attempting to put color and life into each of your statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature about the thing."

"It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my friend's singular character.

"No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing—a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of lectures into a series of tales."

It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of dun-colored houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.

"At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "You can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at all. The small matter in which I endeavored to help the King of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial."

"The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to have been novel and of interest."

"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial. I cannot blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across to me. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran thus:


"DEAR MR. HOLMES:—I am very anxious to consult you as to whether I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, VIOLET HUNTER."



"Do you know the young lady?" I asked.

"Not I."

"It is half-past ten now."

"Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."

"It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It may be so in this case, also."

"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."

As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me what I should do."

"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that I can to serve you." I could see that Holmes was favorably impressed by the manner and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and his finger-tips together, to listen to her story.

"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "In the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but without success. At last the little money which I had saved began to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.

"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers and sees whether she has anything which would suit them.

"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.

"'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at him.

"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.

"'Yes, sir.'

"'As governess?'

"'Yes, sir.'

"'And what salary do you ask?'

"'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Munro.'

"'Oh, tut, tut! sweating—rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such attractions and accomplishments?'

"'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing —'

"'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are not fined for the rearing of a child who may some day play a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.'

"You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, opened a pocket-book and took out a note.

"'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.'

"It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know a little more before I quite committed myself.

"'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.

"'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'

"'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would be.'

"'One child—one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.

"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was joking.

"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single child?'

"'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided always that they were such commands as a lady might with propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?'

"'I should be happy to make myself useful.'

"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you know—faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Heh?'

"'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.

"'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to you?'

"'Oh, no.'

"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'

"I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.

"'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a shadow pass over his face as I spoke.

"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your hair?'

"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.

"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of your young ladies.'

"The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal.

"'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.

"'If you please, Miss Stoper.'

"'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong upon the table, and I was shown out by the page.

"Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the table. I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it here and I will read it to you:



"'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:—

"Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting here or there,or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train.

"Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.'



"That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the whole matter to your consideration."

"Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the question," said Holmes, smiling.

"But you would not advise me to refuse?"

"I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for."

"What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?"

"Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself formed some opinion?"

"Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that he humors her fancies in every way in order to prevent an outbreak?"

"That is a possible solution—in fact, as matters stand, it is the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a nice household for a young lady."

"But the money, Mr. Holmes the money!"

"Well, yes, of course the pay is good—too good. That is what makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some strong reason behind."

"I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me."

"Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt or in danger—"

"Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a telegram would bring me down to your help."

"That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both good-night and bustled off upon her way.

"At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the stairs, "She seems to be a young lady who is very well able to take care of herself."

"And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past."

It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his hand when I mentioned it.

"Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever have accepted such a situation.

The telegram which we eventually received came late one night just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back to his chemical studies. The summons was a brief and urgent one.

"Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER."

"Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up.

"I should wish to."

"Just look it up, then."

"There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30."

"That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the morning."

By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and gray roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light green of the new foliage.

"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.

But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "That it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."

"Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?"

"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."

"You horrify me!"

"But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbors, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is not personally threatened."

"No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away."

"Quite so. She has her freedom."

"What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?"

"I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has to tell."

The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no distance from the station, and there we found the young lady waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch awaited us upon the table.

"I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me."

"Pray tell us what has happened to you."

"I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose."

"Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.

"In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and I am not easy in my mind about them."

"What can you not understand?"

"Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in front of the hall door has given its name to the place.

"I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their conversation I have gathered that they have been married about seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her father's young wife.

"Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colorless in mind as well as in feature. She impressed me neither favorably nor the reverse. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light gray eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he has little to do with my story."

"I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they seem to you to be relevant or not."

"I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one corner of the building.

"For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should both be extremely obliged.'

"The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching along the entire front of the house, with three long windows reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humor, never so much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in the nursery.

"Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of which my employer had an immense repertoire, and which he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to change my dress.

"You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that was my first impression.

At the second glance, however, I perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, a small bearded man in a gray suit, who seemed to be looking in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to him to go away.' "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn round and wave him away like that.'

"I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen the man in the road."

"Pray continue," said Holmes.

"Your narrative promises to be a most interesting one."

"You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove to be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving about. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'

"I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life is worth.'

"The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not think that any burglar could have done.

"And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two with my linen. and as I had still much to pack away I was naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.

"I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the contents, and drew from the bonom my own hair. I laid the two tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had locked.

"I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on his face which made him a very different person to the round, jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me without a word or a look.

"This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with business matters.'

"I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one of them has the shutters up.'

"He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled at my remark. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and annoyance, but no jest.

"Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty—a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the forbidden door.

"It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, opened the door, and slipped through.

"There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was a skylight which let in light from above.

As I stood in the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran—ran as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting outside. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it must be when I saw the door open.'

"'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'—you cannot think how caressing and soothing his manner was—'and what has frightened you, my dear young lady?'

"But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I was keenly on my guard against him.

"'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in there!'

"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.

"'Why, what did you think?' I asked.

"'Why do you think that I lock this door?'

"'I am sure that I do not know.'

"'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.

"'I am sure if I had known—'

"'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over that threshold again'—here in an instant the smile hardened into a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a demon—'I'll throw you to the mastiff.'

"I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man of the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should do."

Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his face. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.

"Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do nothing with him."

"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"

"Yes."

"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"

"Yes, the wine-cellar."

"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional woman."

"I will try. What is it?"

"We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely."

"I will do it."

"Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought there to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, figure, and the color of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some friend of hers—possibly her fiance—and no doubt, as you wore the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent him from endeavoring to communicate with her. So much is fairly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the child."

"What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.

"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their power."

"I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client.

"A thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to this poor creature."

"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the mystery."

We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the door-step.

"Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs.

"That is Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she.

"Her husband lies snoring on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of Mr. Rucastle's."

"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm.

"Now lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business."

We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes's face clouded over. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in."

It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner gone.

"There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "This beauty has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim off."

"But how?"

"Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it."

"But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "The ladder was not there when the Rucastles went away."

"He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it would be as well for you to have your pistol ready."

The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and confronted him.

"You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"

The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open skylight. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "You thieves! Spies and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he could go.

"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.

"I have my revolver," said I.

"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to.

An elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"

Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his neck. With much labor we separated them and carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.

"Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.

"Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were wasted."

"Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her.

"It is clear that Mrs. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."

"Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."

"Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."

"I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "And I'd have done so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too.

"She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."

"Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this system of imprisonment?"

"Yes, sir."

"And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."

"That was it, sir."

"But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your interests were the same as his."

"Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs. Toller serenely.

"And in this way he managed that your good man should have no want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment when your master had gone out."

"You have it, sir, just as it happened."

"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a questionable one."

And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.